I’m pleased to announce that Microsoft has acquired Sunrise, provider of a next-generation calendar app for iOS and Android. We are making this acquisition because we believe a reinvention in the way people use calendars on mobile devices is long overdue. Our goal is to better help people manage and make the most of their time in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

This is another step forward on our journey to reinvent productivity and empower every person and organization to achieve more. Today’s acquisition of Sunrise, our recent acquisition of Acompli, and our new touch-optimized universal Office apps for Windows 10 all exemplify Microsoft’s ambition to rethink the productivity category. Our goal is to create more meaningful, beautiful experiences in mobile email and calendaring across all platforms. And as you will hear in the video below, the creative talent and fresh thinking at Sunrise and Acompli will make a lasting impact on the Microsoft family as we seek to reinvent productivity.

The Sunrise app will accelerate Microsoft’s path to that future of calendaring. By connecting your calendar with a range of services, it provides a far better view of your day, week or month ahead. It acts in a helpful and automatic way, pulling relevant details from across your digital life. It has a simple and beautiful design across devices for a reliable, consistent experience. The New York Times called Sunrise a favorite among the “Best Calendar Apps for Setting your Agenda for the Days Ahead.”

Already downloaded by millions of users, the Sunrise app will remain in market and free after the acquisition. It will continue to support a wide range of third-party apps and calendar services. In the coming months, we’ll share more about how we’ll build on its success and apply Sunrise’s innovations to other Microsoft apps and services. You can read a blog post from Sunrise CEO Pierre Valade with some thoughts about the road ahead here.

Sunrise has a talented team driven by a singular goal to make calendaring more useful for every human on the planet. Their passion, the caliber of their talent, and their commitment to openness have inspired us. We look forward to welcoming the Sunrise team to Microsoft. We’re confident they will help us to push the boundaries on what’s possible for calendaring.